OVERVIEW

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Brief Synopsis

A crusading district attorney takes on the mob''''s murder machine.

After patient investigation, Assistant District Attorney Martin Ferguson is ready to present his case against Albert Mendoza, reputed to be the head of a murder-for-hire ring. Joseph Rico, Ferguson's sole witness against Mendoza, is fearful for his life and suddenly decides not to testify. His fears seem justified when snipers outside Ferguson's office fire at Rico. A terrified Rico then tries to escape from the office and, in so doing, falls to his death. With his case against Mendoza broken, Ferguson and police captain Frank Nelson spend the night painstakingly going over old files, trying to construct the case: In a local police station, "Duke" Malloy hysterically claims "they made me kill my girl" and tells police that he had a contract to kill Nina Lombardo. When he fell in love with her and refused to carry out the hit, Tom "Philadelphia" Zaca, "Big Babe" Lazich and Smiley forced him to kill her. Realizing that he would be killed next, Malloy then ran away. Later, Malloy hangs himself in his cell. Nelson then hears that Zaca has been picked up and returned to the asylum to which he had been committed. From the attendants, the investigators learn that Zaca received a weekly packet of cigarettes from Olga Kirshen. After questioning, Olga directs them to Smiley's apartment, where they discover that he has been killed. Eventually, Nelson and Ferguson manage to track down Big Babe. When he refuses to talk, they use his wife and child to force him to testify. Big Babe tells the police that they received their contracts from Rico, who took orders from someone over the phone. Because the killers had no motive for the murder, they could not be traced. Then Ferguson learns that Thomas O'Hara has been shot. When Ferguson questions him in the hospital, O'Hara explains that he fingered Nina for Malloy: After a few weeks, Malloy, who has fallen in love with Nina, pays O'Hara to call Rico and tell him the contract has been filled. In retaliation for the deception, Nina and Malloy are killed, and a murder attempt is made on O'Hara. Nelson and Ferguson question Nina's roommate, Theresa Davis, who discloses that Nina had changed her name from Angela Vetto because of something that had happened to her father, Tony Vetto. A missing persons report on Vetto reveals that he once witnessed a murder. Then Ferguson and Nelson are called to the asylum because someone is trying remove Zaca against his will. After Ferguson promises Zaca safety in exchange for his testimony, he admits that under Rico's orders, he forced a barber to help kill Vetto, a cab driver who had recognized a man he had once seen commit a murder. Ferguson and Nelson obtain the address of the organization's undertaker, and he leads them to the marsh where he buried the bodies. A massive effort to identify the bodies ensues, but no connection between them can be found. As the police net draws closer, Rico offers to talk. He divulges that he witnessed the murder of the one man Mendoza killed himself, at the inception of his murder-for-hire racket. Rico and Mendoza are spotted leaving the scene by Vetto and his young daughter. With their deaths, no one can connect Mendoza to the killings. Ferguson and Nelson finish combing the case files in the early hours of the morning without uncovering anything that will convict the criminal. Ferguson then visits Mendoza in his cell and shows him pictures of his victims, hoping to spark feelings of guilt. When Mendoza sees Nina's photograph, he immediately calls his lawyer, who then gives another member of the organization a new contract. Meanwhile, listening a second time to a tape of Rico's confession, Ferguson realizes he mentioned Angela's blue eyes. Because Nina had brown eyes, Ferguson understands that O'Hara fingered the wrong woman, and Theresa is really Angela. In a tight race with the killers, Ferguson succeeds in getting to Theresa first. The killers are arrested, and Theresa agrees to testify against Mendoza.